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Runtastic, makers of the popular fitness tracking app of the same name, today announced the introduction of a new app focused on improving sleep habits. Rather than using a wearable or bedside sensor, the company’s new Sleep Better app uses an iPhone placed next to your pillow to track sleep patterns with no additional hardware required. Using the iPhone’s sensors, the app offers sleep tracking features including data on Duration, Cycles and Efficiency as well as Smart Alarm & Wake-Up Window features, Moon Phase tracking, and more. The app is also fully compatible with Apple’s HealthKit and Health app in iOS 8:
Sleep Better is the result of dedicated work over the course of several months, during which the Runtastic team not only developed the app, but also perfected sleep algorithms by spending countless nights in sleep labs and gaining insights from sleep specialists, doctors and individuals struggling with sleep quality. The result is a unique, high-quality app, packed with features that will help users fall asleep more easily, achieve higher sleep efficiency and awake at the perfect moment during light sleep cycles – ensuring a smooth transition into the day.
While Runtastic already has its own fitness and sleep tracking wearable and companion apps, the Sleep Better app is made to work with no additional hardware for iPhone users that would prefer not to invest in a wearable or bedside sensor.
Runtastic explained to us how exactly the sleep tracking features work:
For sleep tracking and monitoring, Runtastic relies on body movements. Tests conducted on different subjects and in several phases to further improve the tracking algorithm confirmed that EEG evaluations in a sleeping lab correlated with the values measured by the Sleep Better app. A physician from the sleeping lab corroborates that if an individual does not move within a certain period (approx. 15 minutes), it is safe to assume he or she is in a deep sleep phase. Major deflections in the graph, on the other hand, indicate a wake phase.
In addition to today’s launch of the new Sleep Better sleep tracking app, Runstastic noted its now at “100 million mobile app downloads” total for its apps across platforms.
Runtastic highlighted a few other features available in the Sleep Better app:
-Track sleep duration, cycles and efficiency
-Develop a better understanding of light and deep sleep cycles, as well as time spent awake
-Use the Smart Alarm to wake up at the ideal time within your personalized Wake-Up Window
-Enjoy a variety of alarm sounds and snooze functions
-Enter daily habits & variables, such as caffeine consumption, exercise info, alcohol consumption and stress levels, to determine the effects of these variables on sleep quality
-Monitor moon phases
-Use Dream Notes to learn what you dream about most and what percentage of your dreams are good, bad or neutral
-View sleep history, including daily stats and overviews for longer time periods (i.e. a selected week or month)
-Filter history taking daily variables into account to determine when you’re sleeping best.
The new Sleep Better app from Runtastic is available on the App Store starting today. The initial download is free, but some features are unlocked via in-app purchase.
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I bought a Sony Smartwatch 2 (does what it does very well, and comes highly recommended: microUSB port for easy of charging, daylight readable always on display and good battery life) which came with Runtastic. a) The app didn’t work. b) The amount of ongoing very annoying spam was the worst I have ever received from any service, and was so stressful. So, I returned the watch (no fault of Sony) and tried without luck to find a way to contact Runtastic on their website and of course, tried the good old ‘unsubscribe’ option. But like most dystopian companies of today (Google included, Apple excluded), there was/is NO way to contact them. I ended up closing the email account being spammed.
I don’t like the berate a company in public, but if they hide behind a very very complex website, they get what they deserve. What happened to the phone number and receptionist eh? People need people.
It will be great when Apple take control of fitness apps and make opting in and out easy.
Isn’t this pretty much the same as http://www.sleepcycle.com?
Seems like it. Sleepcycle devs are great at quickly responding by email with questions and concerns. Seems like they are a smaller company and have chosen the route of charging a fair price for their services instead of Freemium model.
Want to improve sleep quality? Stop worrying about your sleep quality and don’t put an iPhone next to your head at night.
So basically this app is a complete rip of the “Sleep Cycle” app that has been out for a while? I mean a COMPLETE rip, the functions and outputs are identical even certain graphs are the same. I have no problem with app copies, but the author is showcasing extreme product bias (and a complete lack of journalistic integrity) by not noting the existence of the app this clearly copies. This isn’t an article, it’s not a review, it’s an advertisement.
Exactly. I’m this close to stop reading 9to5mac because of these fake posts. It’s very clear they are paid. This was once a website I trusted with the best tech news, I can’t say the same anymore.
So a blatant rip off of sleep cycle…
The Snorelab app does all of this and has done for ages. I’ve been using it and it is brilliant.
Sleep apps are snake oil.
I was intrigued by this for about 5 minutes, but when I wondered, “Does this work in a bed where more than one person sleeps?” and went to their website to see if I could find the answer, and realized there was no way to get in touch with them, I quickly stopped entertaining the idea.